Love is Like a Flower
by AnimeGirl329
Summary: “Mariah, love is like a flower. It starts off as a seed and soon grows into something beautiful, and even if it dies, you can replant it, and sure enough, it will once again bloom.” [Ray] RayxMariah A OneShot


AG329 here! Ok, this one-shot is a RayxMariah! I felt like being a little different from my usual KaixOC stories…but don't get me wrong! I LOVE KaixOC, it's just, I had this idea and I don't think it would work for KaixOC, you know?

Hehe, enough blabbing, you probably want to read the story now…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Beyblade, but I do own the story's plot.

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**Love is Like a Flower  
****One-Shot

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**Normal POV

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Ray was walking down the barren streets of Hong Kong. He was now 21 years old, and a very successful business man. His team, the G Revolution, had broken up when he was 17, and after that, he lost all contact with his them.

He still constantly thought about them, though. Tyson, Ray guessed that he inherited his family's dojo, and was probably dating, if not engaged to or married to, Hillary. He also guessed that Kenny was still best friends with Tyson, and still obsessed with computers. Daichi had said something about going back to his home and taking up his father's job, whatever that was. Max, Ray supposed, went to New York City to help his mom and work in the lab with her. The only person Ray was sure about was Kai, since he saw Kai on the T.V. practically everyday. Kai had taken over Hiwatari Corp., and he was the top business man in the world.

After the gang split up, Ray went back to his hometown in the White Tiger village for a while until he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. When he got there, everything went back to how it used to be before he got together with the G Revolution.

The only thing that happened back in his hometown that Ray found even minutely interesting was how he and Mariah had hooked up. Why did he do it? Ray knew that he was just going to leave again when he figured out what he was going to do with his life, so why did he start dating Mariah?

There were some things that would never be answered and would always be a mystery, but Ray's love for Mariah was not one of them. Ray loved Mariah since the day he first met her. She was constantly in his mind, but he just was never able to express it, and show Mariah just how much she truly meant to him.

When he arrived back home in the White Tiger village, it was Mariah who was waiting for him. It was Mariah who greeted him first. It was Mariah who pulled Ray into a tight hug that Lee literally had to pry her off of Ray from. Truthfully, he didn't want Mariah to let go of him, but Ray knew that she had to.

Ray had always wondered how he would tell his best friend, Lee, that he was in love with Mariah. Lee was partially the reason why Ray never acted on his feelings for Mariah. He never wanted to put his friendship with Lee in jeopardy just because he was in fact in love with Lee's sister.

Yes, Ray was in love with Mariah. He was deeply in love. He was in such a state that he thought about her almost every second of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year. Ray knew that his love for Mariah was turning into an obsession, but he just didn't know how to tell her or anyone else.

All of his old teammates always thought that it would be Kai who would have the most trouble with girls because of his cold, heartless attitude, and all of his old teammates always thought that it would be Ray who would be the first to settle down because of his loyalty to people he loved. Oh, how wrong his old teammates were.

Ray first admitted to being in love with Mariah when he was only 12 years old, yes, even at that young age he knew his heart quite well, but it wasn't until he was 16 that he admitted to loving her out loud to another human. That other human was Kai.

Sure, Lee was Ray's best friend, but Kai was pretty close to Ray, too, even though he never showed it. It was Kai who told Ray that he had to act on his feelings as soon as he had the chance, and he couldn't worry about what Lee or anyone else said about it.

Maybe that's why Ray told Mariah that he loved her in front of the whole village. Maybe that's why Ray risked losing his friendship with Lee just to be with Mariah. Maybe that's why Ray asked Mariah to be with him even though he knew that there was going to come a day where he would leave them again.

And sure enough, it did. Only about a year later, Ray realized that his dream was to become a travel guide. Someone who traveled around to all the different places of the world to guide tourists. The day he left the White Tiger village was heartbreaking.

Lee had accepted Ray's relationship with Mariah, and he was actually happy about it, but when Ray said that he was leaving to become a Travel Guide, Lee stopped talking to him entirely. Mariah was heartbroken as well, she too had been in love with Ray all her life, and she wanted him to stay with her, but she knew that it was what he wanted.

So here he was, three years later, in Hong Kong. His boss gave him the week off, and so Ray decided to go back to China, back to the White Tiger village. Deep in his heart, he hoped that Lee would forgive him, and he hoped that Mariah would go back to him.

As he thought about everything that had happened in the past few years, he finally reached the White Tiger village. Everything was just as he remembered it; even the people still remembered him and greeted him with a warm, friendly greeting as he trotted down the dirt roads.

He thought about going straight to Lee and Mariah, but he then thought against it. He figured that it would be better if he visited the Elders first. They too, like most of the other villagers, greeted Ray and took him back in with open arms. Oh how he wished that Lee and Mariah would take him back with open arms.

As he was about to turn to leave, he found himself face to face with the one and only Lee. The Elders all saw this, and they left the building, leaving Ray and Lee alone. The silence was unbearable and so Ray decided to break it.

"Lee…" He smiled at Lee, hoping things could go back to how they were supposed to be.

"Ray…" Lee acknowledged Ray, but then he did more than Ray thought he would. Lee walked over to Ray and drew him into a quick, friendly hug. "I'm sorry to have gotten mad at you for leaving. It was your dream, but it was just so hard to see my sister all torn up like that…" Ray sadly smiled.

"Is Mariah…" He couldn't finish his own sentence because the mere thought of it was simply much too hurtful for Ray to even think about it. Lee knew what he wanted to know, however, and so he spoke in response to Ray's unasked question.

"No, she is not married. Nor is she dating anyone. I have told Mariah countless times to go out and look for someone, but each time, she would just tell me that she would not do that because the only person for her was you."

This relieved Ray, and he smiled. Lee could tell from the sparkle in Ray's eyes that Ray was still very much in love with Mariah and he would do whatever he could do to get her back. Lee told Ray where he would be able to find her, and with that, Ray was off.

Only a few minutes later, he reached the small pond with the waterfall that he had trained at so many times before. Sure enough, Mariah was there, sitting at the edge of the pond just staring into the water.

As she was sitting there, she was humming very softly to a song. Ray could not make out the song, but the sound of her voice sent shivers down his spine like knives. He slowly walked over to her until his reflection could be seen in the water.

"Ray…" Mariah's eyes went wide as she stood up and wrapped her arms around Ray's neck in a loving way. She was shedding tears of joy. "I'm so glad you're home, Ray!" Ray took a deep breath as he prepared himself to ask the long awaited question.

"Mariah…will you take me back as your boyfriend?" Mariah's gaze shifted to the floor as he said this, and Ray got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. A feeling that she would say no and leave him heartbroken. Oh how Ray didn't know what he would do if that happened.

"I'm sorry, Ray, but I just don't think it would work out between us…I wouldn't be able to bear you leaving me again. Besides, the farther I am from you and the longer we are apart, the weaker my feelings get for you…they've simply withered into nothing more than friendship…"

Ray's heart was shattered into a million pieces, but he thought of something that just might be able to save if not his relationship with her, at least his friendship.

"Mariah…you have to understand how hard it is for me to leave you. I can't stand it. I love you so much and it just kills me to leave you. Even though you don't…love…me anymore, please, just hear me out."

Mariah sat down and motioned for Ray to sit down beside her. She looked at him, showing that he had her full attention. Ray opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He looked around until his gaze landed on a small flower. Smiling, he picked it.

"Mariah, love is like a flower. It starts off as a seed and soon grows into something beautiful, and even if it dies, you can replant it, and sure enough, it will once again bloom."

Mariah looked at Ray as he said this. He then gave Mariah the small flower that he was still holding on to. Mariah's eyes went wide as she understood what Ray was saying to her. Their love had started off as friendship, but it grew into the passion that they had once felt for each other. Then, Ray left, and Mariah's love for him withered away, it died. But Ray was right, if she just replanted that seed, it she just replanted her feelings for him, then the friendship that she now felt for him would bloom into something more, and she would once again become filled with that feeling of love that she missed so much. She would once again love Ray as he loves her.

"Ray…"

"So what do you say, Mariah, will you give my love another chance?" Mariah's eyes were once again filled with the liquid substance known as water as she nodded her head.

"Of course…" Ray sighed in relief as she said this. He pulled her into a loving hug, and he buried his face into her soft, pink hair.

"I love you, Mariah…" Realization dawned onto Mariah as she responded to Ray with a voice full of truth.

"I love you too, Ray…" and with that, two pairs of lips brushed against each other in a kiss that showed that they would never again be apart from each other, and that love would always find a way…

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**AG329: **I hope you liked that! I was just sitting around my house doing nothing when I got the perfect idea to write this! It's defiantly a change for me, so will you please review and tell me how I did writing a RayxMariah? 


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